To the Editor:
We would like to discuss the recent article by Kang et al.
1
Kang et al noted that “the self-reported varicella history did not accurately predict immunity, especially for individuals who have negative or uncertain varicella history”1
and “serologic screening before vaccination was more cost-effective than universal vaccination.”1
In fact, self-reported history is a simple technique for case inclusion for vaccination. Based on the previous report by Wiwanitkit, in cases where medical personnel reported “a previous infection history,” it is usually reliable.2
Another alternative method that might be cost-effective is asking for self-reported history and then doing further serologic screening in cases with uncertain history or without previous infection history before vaccination should be studied.References
- Varicella seroprevalence among health care workers in Korea: validity of self-reported history and cost-effectiveness of prevaccination screening.Am J Infect Control. 2014; 42: 885-887
- How medical students in their pre-clinical year perceive their own hepatitis-B-virus status: the results of a study in a Thai medical school.Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 2002; 96: 627-630
Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 23, 2014
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
